Clean

It cleanses. Washes away the impurities, the emotions, the raging insecurities that dirty up the window of our heart and then slowly trickle off as the drops of water drown them willfully away.  We don’t appreciate rain as much as we should.

But rain is forgiveness. A new beginning. Symbol of growth, of life. Of dry earth turned fruitful, of dirtied heart made clean.

Summer bike rides through a downpour, alone on the trail, doubts chasing you all the way to your destination. You just want to be free. So you ride and ride and ride, wheels whirring across the muddy ground making clickety click sounds hard; wheels whirring away in your brain too. Pedal fast and faster, pumping legs burn but not as much as the fears and questions that pound their rhythm in your head, so persistent and consistent and you’re not content till you get them out. Or at least get them away.

It comes as sudden as a flash of heat lightning. The rain that bathes your body and heart, a car-wash for the soul. Drips. Splatters. Reminders that you are His. That the fears cannot reach you no matter how fast you bike.

It drips down your shirt, races down your arms, beads on your pedaling legs. Your eyes are squinted against the water that flows down your forehead, but you do not resent it. Wipe it away, clear your vision in more ways than one. It has cleansed you. When you reach your destination, stand, raise your arms, look to the heavens.  Smile. The downpour is God’s blessing. A reminder that you are purified, that the doubts that surround your heart like weeds, choking and numbing, have been washed away, sod clumped together, now cluttering up puddles in the ground.

And you? You are clean. You are free. Washed in the rain. Washed in the spotless blood of the lamb.